Economic ties between Turkey and the U.S. have been dealt with separately from other issues that have been a reason for tension between the two countries recently. This week will be marked by a visit of a U.S. delegation headed by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, who will be visiting Turkey as of Sept. 6. Ahead of his visit, Ross came together with Turkish and American business representative at a meeting in Washington, during which the trade potential between the two countries was discussed and highlighted the determination to reach the bilateral trade volume of $100 billion. The efforts to take advantage of the huge economic potential between the two NATO allies have been accelerated particularly after the meeting between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the U.S. President Donald Trump at the G20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan in late June. During the meeting, Trump proposed that both countries should aim for $100 billion in bilateral trade. The figure was revised up from the $75 billion target set by the two leaders in February.

This was lastly reflected on during a meeting in Washington, held upon the invitation of Ross. It was attended by Turkey-U.S. Business Council (TAİK) Chairman Mehmet Ali Yalçındağ, American-Turkish Council (ATC) Chairman General James Jones, and U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) officials.

At the meeting, which emphasized the need to develop a balanced trade of $50 billion in exports and $50 billion in imports, the issues discussed will be presented to Trump by Ross.

In 2018, the Turkey-U.S. bilateral trade volume was $20.6 billion, according to data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat). While Turkey’s exports to the country came to $8.3 billion, its imports totaled $12.3 billion.

TurkStat data also showed that in the period January to July this year, the bilateral trade volume between the two NATO partners was around $11.28 billion. U.S. purchases of Turkish products were nearly $4.63 billion, while exports were $6.65 billion.